Matthew Smailes (25 March 1899 – 1978) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

as a half-back. Born in Lancaster,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, Smailes began his career at

Annfield Plain Annfield Plain is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated on a plateau between the towns of Stanley, to the north-east, and Consett, to the west. According to the 2001 census, Annfield Plain has a population of 3,569. By the ti ...

before moving to Blackburn Rovers, where he made four league appearances. Signed as an understudy to

Jimmy Collins James Joseph Collins (January 16, 1870 – March 6, 1943) was an American professional baseball player. He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball. Collins was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945. Collins was especially regarded for ...

, Jim Barrett or Albert Cadwell, Smailes made his debut for West Ham United on 9 February 1929, in a game that saw

Vic Watson Victor Martin Watson (10 November 1897 – 3 August 1988) was an English professional footballer who played most of his club football for West Ham United. Playing career Watson, a centre forward, played 505 times for West Ham between 1920 and ...

smash six goals past

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. He played 10 league and cup games for the east London club. Smailes played 11

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

games for Coventry after leaving West Ham. He joined

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

in August 1931.

References

External links

Matthew Smailes
at ''westhamstats.info'' 1899 births 1978 deaths Sportspeople from Lancaster, Lancashire English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Annfield Plain F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Ashington A.F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Lancashire {{England-footy-defender-1890s-stub